We consume little more than one-half of the electricity of the average US household and still live a modern lifestyle. None of our electricity comes from fossil fuels.

Back in 2003, we bought a plot of land in Downeast Maine with the idea of building a solar home on it. Concerned about the effects of global warming, US dependence on fossil fuel and volatile fuel costs, we decided to build a solar home.

 

We wanted to live a modern lifestyle in a value-for-money home that consumes less energy than the typical US household.

 

There is a lot of energy in sunlight. When the sun is overhead, the power of several coal-fired power stations shines down on every square mile. We wanted to make as much use of this free energy as we could, taking into account the limitations of our budget.

 

We've now taken our low energy home from design to reality. In these pages, we share our experiences and show how easy it is to:

 

• live using clean energy
• realize big savings on utility bills.

 

We have also learnt some useful lessons which we pass on to you.  If you are considering building a new home, or are concerned about climate change and would like to ‘go green’, or want to save energy costs in the home you live in, read on.  

 

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“The Home Energy Diet” helped inform our thinking on energy efficiency - it’s a really useful read whether you are thinking of building a new home or improving the efficiency of an existing one.